Monday, September 8, 2008

'Direk' Jerry praises stars of 'Kahit Isang Saglit'

Movie and television director Jerry Sineneng said he is so blessed to have been given a great set of actors and actresses from local showbiz and Malaysia that are starring in ABS-CBN and Double Visions' series "Kahit Isang Saglit," which is set to start to air Monday, September 15.

The original title of the series was actually "A Time For Us" and was later changed to "Kahit Isang Saglit" as a tribute to movie and TV director Gilbert "Manong" Perez who died after suffering a heart attack while directing a scene for the TV series.

"In terms of directing them napakahuhusay na mga artista. We are so blessed, Manong was so blessed to be given a set of really, really good actors all dedicated, all committed all professionals and fortunately when I stepped into the picture kamado na nila ‘yong characterization," he said.

He said that he is really having a good time working with the whole cast. "Okay lang po madaling madali masayang masaya," he added.

Sineneng said that for the series, the characters will use two languages -- Tagalog and English.

He said that though there were some scenes that characters speak in Bahasa he sees to it people would still understand it through subtitles that were provided.

"Lahat po ng dialog dito ay piling-pili lang, hindi naman daldal ng daldal na hindi maintindihan and we made sure that delivery of our actors are clear and easily understandable," he said.

The director also admitted that he had a quite hard time directing some scenes during his first days working for the show because of a language barrier.

"Ang hirap kasi dumudugo ang ilong ko sa English, ang hirap mag-motivate ng English," he explained.

He said that after getting the trust and support from Malaysian stars, everything turned well.

He even praised Malaysia's one of most respected actors, Louisa Chong: "Bakla, babaeng bakla, baklang mayaman, napakabait, napaka-supportive din, loka-loka din, she's very good, hindi ako nahirapan swerte ko sa project na ito hindi ako ganoon ka hirap."

Jerry Lopez Sineneng is a graduate from the University of the Philippines. He got his break with his legal drama show “Ipaglaban Mo.”

He directed in 1996 the film version of the hit soap opera “Mara Clara,” which was also his first full-length film.

He also directed “Ang Pulubi at ang Prinsesa (1997),” Flames--Episode I, Tameme (1997),” “Kung Ayaw Mo, Huwag Mo (1998),” and “Labs Kita, Okay Ka Lang (1998).

For “Soltera”, his film with Maricel Soriano, he won the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences award for the screenplay of the dramatic film, he co-wrote with Jun Lana.